Stocks On Wall Street Advance Ahead of Elections and CPI Data

Barry Adams
07 Nov, 2022
New York City

Stocks attempted to gain ground in the early trading and investors await mid-term election results on Tuesday and consumer price data on Thursday. 

Tuesday's midterm elections may indicate a new balance of power in the U.S. Congress as the divided nation votes on several issues confronting voters including sky-high inflation and out of control defense spending.  

Despite decades of policy changes and different parties in control, the U.S. economy has struggled to generate more than two million net new jobs annually, barring the post-pandemic recovery. 

The consumer price inflation data on Thursday are likely to show an increase of 0.7% on a monthly basis in October or about 8.1% on an annual basis. 

Hotter-than-expected inflation data may provide another confirming signal to the Federal Reserve to continue its aggressive rate hike campaign at the next meeting. 

Interest rates are likely to jump higher by at least 50 basis points at the next Fed's meeting on December 14th. 

The S&P 500 index edged up 0.05% to 3,772.67 and the Nasdaq Composite index declined 0.2% to 10,459.96. 

Natural gas prices soared on the hopes that colder-than-usual climate conditions in certain regions of the U.S. will support higher demand. 

Crude oil jumped 43 cents to $93.10 a barrel and natural gas advanced 71 cents to $7.10 a thermal unit. 

The U.S. treasury yields advanced following higher energy prices. 

The yield on 2-year Treasury notes rose to 4.73%, 10-year notes jumped to 4.21% and 30-year bonds increased to 4.32%. 

Berkshire Hathaway jumped more than 1% after the Warren Buffett controlled conglomerate reported a 20% increase in earnings in its latest quarter. 

Apple Inc declined more than 1% after China imposed tighter restrictions in the city where many Apple products are manufactured by its Taiwan-based contractor Foxconn Technology Group. 

Carvana plunged 16% to $7.35 on the worries that the online used-car retailer may face more difficult times ahead as higher interest rates may slowdown consumer spending.